Leaves of Cayaponia quinqueloba (as in C. americana and some other cucurbits) are variable in shape. Cayaponia grandifolia has been treated as distinct from C. quinqueloba based on extremes of leaf form, C. grandifolia with deltate to ovate-deltate lobes broadest at the base (for example, R. K. Godfrey and J. W. Wooten 1981). The range of C. grandifolia is described as Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, sympatric with C. quinqueloba; only a single variable species appears to exist.

Most collections of Cayaponia quinqueloba show plants with only pistillate flowers, relatively few with both pistillate and staminate flowers (the latter usually relatively less numerous on a given plant).

Apparently pistillate specimens may be from bisexual plants, the sampled portion of the stem lacking staminate flowers.